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Step 3 - holding the newly trimmed slab by hand use the first grinding wheel to remove material until only the line can still be seen. Then bevel the edges of the stone so that he top will be slightly smaller than the bottom of the stone. The scribed line remains on the bottom of the stone. This is important if you are cutting a calibrate stone but less so if just cutting a freeform shape. |
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Here is the stone after the edges are beveled. The original pencil line would just be visible around the bottom edge of the stone. You can see that the top is now slightly smaller than the bottom. |
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Step 4 - A dop stick is now attached to the bottom of the stone. This stick will be used to handle the stone while finishing the shaping process. Some people find it just a easy to hand-hold the stone without the dop-stick, and this can be done with larger stones. Very small stones often require a dop-stick to even hold the stone.
The dop-stick can be made of virtually any material and can be glued to the bottom of the stone using super-glue, epoxy, or "dopping wax." Dopping wax is a polymer blend with shellac that can be heated until soft and then used to encase both the end of the stick and the bottom of the stone.
In any event a dop stick was used in this example and super-glue was used to make it adhere to the stone. |
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